Methods, devices, and articles of manufacture consistent with the present disclosure relate to a sense amplifier, a nonvolatile memory device including the sense amplifier and a sensing method of the sense amplifier.
A magnetic random access memory (MRAM) stores data using a resistance change of a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) element of a memory cell. A resistance of the MTJ element is changed depending on a magnetization direction of a free layer. When a magnetization direction of a free layer is identical to a magnetization direction of a pinned layer, the MTJ element has a low resistance value. When a magnetization direction of a free layer is opposite to a magnetization direction of a pinned layer, the MTJ element has a high resistance value. The low resistance value of the MTJ element corresponds to data ‘0’ and the high resistance value of the MTJ element corresponds to data ‘1’.
Among data recoding methods of MRAM, there is a method of recording data in a MTJ element using a digit line. In a MRAM adopting the recording method described above, a write current is applied to a digit line installed to be spaced apart from the MTJ element and a magnetization direction of a free layer is changed using a magnetic field generated from the write current. A read current is applied between both ends of the MTJ element. In the MRAM, a path of a read current is different from a path of a write current. However, in case of a spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) which does not use a digit line, a path of a read current is identical to a path of a write current.